News Article: Zadina will be called up in March

"We're going to give Zadina a little bit of an opportunity in March. I want him or the young players to see what the NHL is all about, so as they head into the offseason [they know what they need to work on].

He should play until he doesnt deserve a roster spot. Detroit isn't so full of talent that it can't afford a spot for him if he tears it up.

Click to expand...

In a year where we will not make the playoffs? What benefit would that have at this point in the season?
I could see if he was going to get 60+ games in, but is there a massive difference between 9 games and 20? Not enough development time to justify using a coveted protection spot up.

Holland talking like he’s going to be GM in 19-20’ in that article. Not reading between the lines, but I could easily see him here.

Click to expand...

He's under contract for it, so it's not all that surprising. Stevie Y can most definitely come into an advisory role next season. It's basically a lock that he's joining the organization when his contract expires, not a lock he'll be GM. Most of us are hopeful that's not the case, but Stevie Y has more respect for KH than most of this board combined.

You're right, as of now we have 5 forwards worth protecting:
Larkin
Mantha
AA
Bert
Rasmussen

Now there's a scenario where we could have 7. If Svech is able to rehab his injury and look like a true middle six player, they'll want to protect him. If they sign a UFA forward this our next off-season, they'll want to protect them.
Not to say Zadina is less valuable than any of those players, but he has shown he needs the AHL time to develop anyway, why is it worth it to bring him up for 15 games instead of 9 before he goes back to the AHL for the playoffs?

You're right, as of now we have 5 forwards worth protecting:
Larkin
Mantha
AA
Bert
Rasmussen

Now there's a scenario where we could have 7. If Svech is able to rehab his injury and look like a true middle six player, they'll want to protect him. If they sign a UFA forward this our next off-season, they'll want to protect them.
Not to say Zadina is less valuable than any of those players, but he has shown he needs the AHL time to develop anyway, why is it worth it to bring him up for 15 games instead of 9 before he goes back to the AHL for the playoffs?

Click to expand...

I suppose it probably won't matter all that much,personally I probably wouldn't bring him up at all this year at this point he's been fine in the AHL but not exactly killing it

but in the event Shaman was talking about where he came up and did click and start tearing it up? I wouldn't send him back down in the middle of a good run just because of that

You're right, as of now we have 5 forwards worth protecting:
Larkin
Mantha
AA
Bert
Rasmussen

Now there's a scenario where we could have 7. If Svech is able to rehab his injury and look like a true middle six player, they'll want to protect him. If they sign a UFA forward this our next off-season, they'll want to protect them.
Not to say Zadina is less valuable than any of those players, but he has shown he needs the AHL time to develop anyway, why is it worth it to bring him up for 15 games instead of 9 before he goes back to the AHL for the playoffs?

Click to expand...

Problem is if you sign a UFA forward you want to keep in that time.

All in all, there's no point in burning a whole year on Zadina's contract to keep him up for a few more games.

I suppose it probably won't matter all that much,personally I probably wouldn't bring him up at all this year at this point he's been fine in the AHL but not exactly killing it

but in the event Shaman was talking about where he came up and did click and start tearing it up? I wouldn't send him back down in the middle of a good run just because of that

Click to expand...

For sure, I'm in agreement with your first paragraph, though I give him the 9 games for a taste of the show and the $100,000 he'll get for playing those 9 games.
I think the second part is avoided by calling him up for the last 9 games of the season, then going back down to GR for their final 3 games.

If it were a permanent spot it would require earning. It's a temporary spot necessary for his development so he can see what he needs to improve on to make it.

Holland said as much in the interview, though it was cut off from the quote posted. The full quote was: ""We're going to give Zadina a little bit of an opportunity in March. I want him or the young players to see what the NHL is all about, so as they head into the offseason [they know what they need to work on]. I think a young player can really improve in the gym between June and August."

He pretty much indirectly stated that he's bringing him up so he can see how much he lacks in strength and conditioning and work on it over the summer.

For sure, I'm in agreement with your first paragraph, though I give him the 9 games for a taste of the show and the $100,000 he'll get for playing those 9 games.
I think the second part is avoided by calling him up for the last 9 games of the season, then going back down to GR for their final 3 games.

I addressed that in my post

Click to expand...

My bad. I stopped reading after the list because I went to check and see if CapFriendly still had Nielsen listed as having a NMC for the duration of his contract.

Then I thought of the UFA thing and completely forgot to read the rest of the post before replying.

He should play until he doesnt deserve a roster spot. Detroit isn't so full of talent that it can't afford a spot for him if he tears it up.

Click to expand...

Absolutely not. Burning a year of an ELC unnecessarily is practically criminal in this NHL and very short sighted. We may not have the talent now but we could be hard up for a $3M+ swing in salary because his ELC expires a year earlier. He still has plenty to learn in the AHL and a couple weeks worth of good NHL play shouldnt change that.

I like most of what it says, but the part that bugs me about this article is the cliche of, "they've been hurt by injuries, and have played well when everybody is healthy".

Name one NHL team that goes through a season without injuries, or doesn't play better when everybody is available.

Yes, missing Green in particular to start the year hurt. But that's also part of the difference between good and bad teams: having the depth to overcome some injuries. So nobody should act as if Detroit is right on the cusp of returning to the playoffs, if they can only stay healthy.